Shapes of things

8 min read

They had Eric Clapton. They had Jeff Beck. They had Jimmy Page. In the late ’60s n

This article is from...

Guitar Player Magazine

07 March, 2023

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Uncut

Supersonic!

Fifty years on from their first successes, Roger McGuinn, the 12-string architect of THE BYRDS , tells Uncut about their exceptional first 18 months – and his relationship with Gene Clark. As the young group make their jet-powered escape from the folk think tank, we hear about making the scene on the Strip, outraging Iowa and a muted response in the United Kingdom. But ultimately how “Eight Miles High” became the spectacular conclusion of the band’s first era. “I almost left The Byrds entirely to go and be in this space band With Dino Valente,” McGuinn tells John Robinson

Classic Rock

The rolling stones

Black And Blue UMC/POLYDOR

Uncut

Neat neat neat

Fifty years on from their explosive debut single “New Rose”, THE DAMNED have evolved from punk pioneers to national treasures. But as a new album pays tribute to Brian James, their fallen co-founder, bandmates Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies – along with sundry eyewitnesses and ne’erdo-wells – recall the volatile beginnings, creative vision and incorrigible spirit of The Damned’s groundbreaking first act. “It was CID, villains and the Captain in a nurse’s outfit,” hears Peter Watts

MOJO

His grace under pressure

In the spring of 1974, DAVID BOWIE arrived in the United States by boat. By the time he left in the spring of 1976, his marriage was ending, his cocaine addiction was spiralling, and he'd become obsessed with Nazis. He'd also made another masterpiece: Station To Station. "We went days without sleeping," his valiant co-conspirators tell GRAYSON HAVER CURRIN. "Inhibitions were out the window."

MOJO

The rise of the triffids

Out of Perth, Western Australia, David McComb’s post-punk melancholics created intoxicating music of intense feeling. Now, four decades after their classic album Born Sandy Devotional , members and intimates remember high inspiration, heroin, a song on TV soap Neighbours, the wide open road and the world of late leader McComb. “Dave worked on his songwriting 24-7,” they recall. “It was the delightful adventure that we were all willing to go on…”